DARKSTAR

A self-contained game optimizer with intelligent thread detection.

Features

• Intelligent Game Thread Detection: Automatically identifies main game threads, render threads, audio threads, and worker threads
• Module-based Thread Analysis: Uses thread start addresses to determine which module spawned each thread
• Thread Description Parsing: Analyzes thread descriptions for classification
• Confidence Scoring: Assigns confidence scores to thread classifications for reliable optimization

Self-Contained Deployment

• No .NET Runtime Required: The executable includes all dependencies
• Single File Deployment: One .exe file + config folder
• Optimized Size: Compressed single-file deployment

Building

Prerequisites

• .NET 8.0 SDK (for building only, not required on target machine)
• Windows 10/11

Quick Build

1. Open the DARKSTAR folder
2. Double-click BUILD.bat
3. Choose option 1 for self-contained build
4. Find your executable at Bin\Release\publish\DARKSTAR.exe

Manual Build (Self-Contained)

cd DARKSTAR
dotnet publish src\DARKSTAR\DARKSTAR.csproj -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained true -p:PublishSingleFile=true -p:IncludeNativeLibrariesForSelfExtract=true -p:EnableCompressionInSingleFile=true -o Bin\Release\publish

Visual Studio 2022

1. Open DARKSTAR.sln in Visual Studio 2022
2. Right-click project → Publish
3. Configure: Folder → Self-contained → win-x64 → Single file
4. Click Publish

Configuration

Copy the config folder next to DARKSTAR.exe:

DARKSTAR.exe
config/
  ├── GAME_PRIORITY.GCFG     # Game process configurations
  ├── PROC_PRIORITY.GCFG     # System process configurations
  └── DARKSTAR.GCFG          # General settings

Configuration File Format

See the existing .GCFG files for format examples.

Runtime Prompt

On startup, DARKSTAR prompts for the game executable name (e.g. MyGame.exe) to ensure the selected game is monitored even without a preexisting entry.

Hotkeys

• CTRL+SHIFT+V - Toggle verbose logging
• CTRL+SHIFT+H - Show/hide console window
• CTRL+SHIFT+G - Force system optimizations

Intelligent Thread Detection

DARKSTAR uses intelligent thread detection to automatically classify game threads:

Thread Type	Description	Core Recommendation
Main	Primary game logic thread	P-Core (highest priority)
Render	Graphics/rendering thread	P-Core
Audio	Sound processing thread	Either
Network	Networking/socket thread	E-Core
Worker	Background task threads	E-Core
System	OS/runtime threads	E-Core

The detector analyzes:

• Thread descriptions (SetThreadDescription API)
• Thread start addresses and parent modules
• Thread priority levels
• Thread state (Running/Waiting)